Reunion
by Jennifer Darknight
Summary: After defeating Copy-X, Zero meets up with an old friend. Turns out that 'Zero' isn't who he thinks he is. Zero / X, AU to the ending of Megaman Zero.


**Title:** Reunion

**Fandom:** Mega/Rockman Zero

**Characters:** X, Zero. Mentions of Ciel and the Resistance.

**Pairing:** Zero / X

**Genre:** Drama / Romance at the end.

**Warnings:** This is AU. AU with a capital AU. Inspired by the ending of the original MMZ, I figured I'd throw my own twist on it. This is edited from its previous version, so it should be far better this time.

**Author's Note:** This is edited from its original version. I fixed the prose and made the characters a bit more in-character.

**Summary:** After defeating Copy-X, Zero meets with an old friend. Turns out that 'Zero' isn't who he thinks he is. AU to the ending of Megaman Zero.

* * *

When he booted up again, his ears were assaulted by the howl over dead sand and stone.

The cold feeling of hard metal was gone, replaced by the warmth that only a scorching desert could give, raw sediment sticking in his hair and on his face. Luckily none managed to get in his eyes or nose, though with his optics flickering as they were, it might as well have. Colors filtered into one another and the sense of distant static blurred the landscape; though at least he could see at all.

Considering the dull ache of combat damage in every limb, and the slight tremble of his own body, he'd take what he could get.

_Is it over?_

On shaking arms, Zero made an attempt to stand, sitting on his knees and spitting rocks that had managed to find their way into his mouth. With a groan, he grimaced at the taste. Really, how could humans bear to live in such a barren place? No grass, no flowers, not even the tiniest hint of life. If ever there was a place that embodied loneliness and depression, he couldn't think anything better than _this_.

"I..." He gulped in a breath of air. "I guess I managed to do it. I don't sense a signal anywhere..."

No signal, and no sign of human life, either. Wherever he was, he was a long way from where he was before he blacked out.

With that _copy_.

_Such a waste,_ he thought. _He had the opportunity to end war, and all he did was bring about more fighting. And for what? _

So many deaths.

And for what? An illusion of perfection? Some ideal that he didn't understand and couldn't hold up (not in peace or a time of crisis), leading to the incarceration and slaughter of more innocents than could even be counted?!

How many had been falsely accused?

How many had been left to die, just so the humans could feel safer?

Why?

_**Why?**_

His chest still felt heavy with regret, wrapped in thin, silky ribbons of incomprehensible rage.

Spitting out some more sand and letting out a cough, Zero shook his head. What was done was done – all that was left was to mourn the loss of who could have been a great Reploid, crumbled under his own immaturity and the lack of understanding as of how to uphold the legacy that was thrust upon him.

"...Everyone must be worried about me." He said to himself. "I should hurry and find my way back."

Gritting his teeth, Zero pushed his way to his feet –

"_Even in that body, you always were the Real Thing." _

—only to nearly fall back down again with surprise. Blinking his eyes, he tried to will his optics to _stick to one damn color_, glancing around him.

Nothing.

Something of a familiar laugh flickered in the breeze, distorted by static. Oh no, his hearing software couldn't have been damaged, too, could it? Ciel was already going to have a hell of a time fixing him; she and the Cyber Elves didn't need any more work piled on them than they were already going to have at this point.

Wait. There was something about it. That tone, that...

_Oh._

Zero let out the closest thing to a gasp.

"You're...you're that voice from before." It had to have been. The static-like cadence and the velvety, masculine tone that tickled the back of his mind and left a warm feeling in his entire body for reasons he couldn't even begin to explain were all the same.

_What is he doing **here**? _

At no response, he swallowed. If this was just his mind playing tricks on him, and his systems were more messed up than he thought they were, he was going to feel like a serious idiot later. "I...I never got the chance to thank you for helping us before. The Saber, and everything else...without you, I don't think we would have..."

"_Don't worry about it." _The voice said, _"We've always had each others' backs; just because we're like this, doesn't mean I'm going to stop now."_

Zero's forehead knit with confusion, even ignoring the sand in his open mouth as the words hit home. The glittering ball of light and static didn't escape his attention, however, only adding to the questions that whirled in the forefront of his mind.

_We knew each other? _

"You..." He took a step forward, towards the ball. Which, alongside the rest of the desert, was red for some reason. Stupid optics. "Who _are_ you?"

Zero hadn't expected his companion to let out a soft sigh.

"_I guess those years in the tube affected your memory more than I thought. C'mon, X." _

"X...?"

His processors whirred at the sound, something perking up at the name. It was just like...

-00-

"_X...?" _

_Ciel nodded. "Yes. Not only is he trying to retire all of us, but he's slaughtering innocent repl-"_

"_You're lying." _

_The words came unbidden and forceful, almost a growl as he felt something clench at his core. He didn't know why, but these words felt like the truth. _

_But why did he feel so angry? Who was X? _

"_I..." Zero swallowed. "I don't think he would do that."_

_Something pulled. Zero wasn't sure what it was, but there was something nagging, insistent, telling him that these words were the truth. _

_Was it part of his memory?_

-00-

...Yeah. It was just like that, only for that same thing to pull more the moment he saw that...

That Copy.

The feeling of absolute absurdity at his appearance, his attitude, his rage at his actions. It was all the same!

Only for...this.

"Why are you calling me that?" Zero spat. "I'm Zero!"

"_No, it's not. You may share his body, but you're not the real Zero." _

The orb of light became a blob, flickering in and out, pixellated and fuzzy before it started to take shape. Small at first, it twisted and crunched itself, the light in the center pulsing brighter and brighter, moving faster and faster.

In mere moments, it wasn't a ball anymore.

Replacing it was the half-translucent image of a man, not much taller than himself. Above his horned helmet there was a halo of code, the rest of his body draped in a robe of the most deep of red, trimmed with white and outlined in gold. His long hair, so much like his own, tousled in a breeze that wasn't there, and the visage smiled at him.

"_...I am."_

_Wh-what?!_

"Zero" found his eyes widening despite themselves, rooted to the spot while he could do nothing but stare.

"You're...?"

The figure nodded. _"Yeah. Hey, X."_

His body started to shake.

_Zero. That's **Zero**. _

The thoughts came by so fast that it made his head hurt. Internal fans kicked into overdrive as his heat skyrocketed, and with everything crashing into him at once he didn't even notice the pain in his body anymore. Images, coupled with sounds and thoughts and _images_ assaulted his visual and mental sensors, kicking in senses he didn't even know that he had and leaving him to fall to his knees with a pained cry.

Zero's yell of concern was unheard by his ears. All he could see were the images.

Images of himself, only not himself, clad in blue with a buster on his arm. There were others, too—silhouettes, sometimes faces, but they flitted too fast for him to get a good enough look to _recognize_ anyone—but none substantial enough to give him a real memory jog.

He was writing on a pad of paper in a darkened room with only the dim glow of a reading light to give him guidance.

He was letting out a cry of surprise as someone clad in black – who was that? – flew up on his leg thrusters and slammed into a pole, crashing to the ground in a heap.

He fiddled with his headset as he spoke through the microphone to someone else beyond – something about 'filling in' for someone else but it was all cryptic – with a tone that was more than a little worried.

His hand grabbed the hand of another.

A reflection of his current form flashed him a confident grin.

"AUGH!"

As quickly as they came the images stopped.

X's thoughts, however, remained.

_I'm X. _

_But how is that possible? How did I get in this body? **Why** am I in Zero's body? What happened to my body? I supposedly vanished many years ago, but I can't remember anything..._

_Does Zero know? _

"_X...**X**! Are you...oh, dammit all to—stay with me here! Come on!" _

_That was my **Copy** that I killed. The Copy to replace me after I..._

_...I can't remember. _

_But I'm in Zero's body. I..._

"_X, say something! **X!**" _

X rose from his new crouched position, staring up at the image of Zero. His saline cleaning solution bunched up behind his right eye, wetting the lens but doing nothing more.

His core _ached_.

"...Zero...?"

Yes. He _was X_. That was Zero, standing right there. A Cyber Elf to be sure, but still undeniably _Zero_.

"Zero!"

Without another word, X launched forward, grasping his arms towards his long-lost companion. The image's expression changed from relief to shock, holding out his arms with the hints of _something_ coming out of his mouth, but damn it, X didn't care.

"_X, wait, I'm not—"_

...Solid. Slamming face-first into the sand, X took a moment to spit it all out (ugh, not again) before forcing himself to his feet, turning his attention to Zero.

"S-sorry." X rubbed the back of his helmet. He tried to ignore the warmth in his core, and the lonely sensation pooling in the back of his mind, but the more he tried to push it back, the harder it crashed onto him. "I guess I got a little carried away."

"_I sort of expected as much." _Despite the levity, X could still see the tinges of pain in Zero's eyes.

What happened? How did Zero get like that? Why was X there?

Why—

"You...can't even imagine how many questions I have." he murmured.

"_No, I think I have an idea."_ Cyber-Elf Zero slumped his shoulders and moved his hand towards X's helmet, but as though he thought better of it he pulled away. _"I'll tell you as much as you want once we have some time, but I think it should wait until you're repaired first." _

A humorless chuckle. "I look that bad?"

"_X, do you now how surreal it is to see your own body battered like that without you inside it?" _

"About as surreal as being in someone else's body, with the owner staring right back at you."

_I missed this. We must have done this a lot before, Zero and I. Why can't I remember?_

X forced himself to his feet and threw Zero a weak smile, who only returned it in earnest. The pain was starting to resurface: first in his arms and then in his legs, forming a distant throb in his chest, though luckily the electrical pulses were minimal at best. As bad as he looked and felt, X at least knew that he could hold out for a while before repair.

Both men stared at each other.

After a few moments, Zero coughed.

_"So, outside of your body, is everything holding up okay?"_

"Buster's shot, Trans-Server's in pieces, and my wireless connection is out. The Z-saber is just fine, though."

Zero winced. _"Ouch. I think there's an old bunker underground a few clicks out that you can use to contact the others,_" he said. _"Then you can get Ciel to patch you up."_

"Will I be able to see you again?" X asked.

"_I told you I'd explain things, didn't I? I've never let you down before." _

X's memory was still so fuzzy that he could only take Zero at his word, however.

"All right. I'll get going, then."

A pause. The Cyber-Elf of Zero began to fade out of sight.

"_Hey, X?"_

"Yeah, Zero?"

The still-fading image gained a bit more of its shape, and an unreadable expression swept across Zero's face. X wasn't sure why, but it made his hands start to shake.

"_...I missed you, you know. It's...it's good to finally see you again." _

A moment passed, and as Zero was nearly out of sight, X, the hero caught in the wrong body, smiled.

"Yeah, Zero. Same."

_I love you, too._


End file.
